Winning an Olympic medal and standing on the podium is one of the most important achievements in an athlete’s career.
For many, it is the culmination of years of hard work and dedication.
Olympic gold and silver medals are fairly simple to determine: athletes who compete in the final of an event to finish one and two win these medals.
However, the method of awarding bronze medals varies between certain sports.
Most Olympic sports have races and finals to determine the Olympic podium – with the third best athlete receiving bronze.
This method is followed in athletics, swimming, cycling, gymnastics, artistic swimming, canoe slalom, canoe sprint, diving, horse riding, rowing, shooting, skateboarding, sport climbing, triathlon and weightlifting.
Sports played on courts and fields use playoffs to decide the bronze medal – the losing semi-finalists compete against each other to determine the third-placed player/team. For example, hockey and football.
These bronze qualifiers are used in 3×3 basketball, archery, badminton, softball/baseball, basketball, fencing, football, handball, hockey, rugby sevens , surfing, table tennis, tennis, volleyball and water polo.
Two bronze medals: Wrestling, boxing and more
Martial arts – judo, taekwondo, karate – and combat sports – boxing and wrestling – at the Olympics award two bronze medals.
In boxing, the two losing semi-finalists receive a bronze medal each. Until the 1948 London Olympics, boxers entered the ring to win the bronze medal in a playoff.
However, the system of awarding a bronze medal to the two losing semi-finalists was introduced during the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. The AIBA felt that there was too little time to recover for the semi-finalists. losing finalists between their semi-final and the bronze medal playoff.
Repechage rounds
Judo, taekwondo and wrestling use the repechage system to award bronze medals.
In the taekwondo and wrestling repechage, a separate draw is conducted, which includes the losing semi-finalists as well as the two athletes who lost to the eventual finalists in the round of 16 and quarter-finals.
Losing athletes from the round of 16 and quarterfinals in the same half of the draw compete against each other, and the winner of each then faces the losing semifinalist in their half of the draw for two bronze medals.
In the judo repechage, a separate draw is made for the losing semi-finalists and the losing quarter-finalists.
The losing quarter-finalists from the same half of the draw play each other and the winner of each faces the losing semi-finalists from the same half of the draw for two bronze medals.
There are two forms of karate at Tokyo 2020: kumite and kata, with medalists designated in each.
Kumite uses a direct elimination system and the two losing semi-finalists receive a bronze medal.
In kata, after a first elimination round, six athletes move on to a ranking round and will be divided into two groups. The group winners advance to the gold medal fight while the four remaining athletes compete for two bronze medals.
The exceptions
In the golf competition, the 60 male and female players play four rounds of golf, with the top three winning the Olympic medals. In the event of a tie, a playoff system is used to determine the medalists.
The sailing system is a little different. Sailing regulations stipulate that athletes compete in 10 or 12 (depending on boat type) qualifying races, with the top 10 progressing to the medal race.
The qualifying scores of the top 10 carry over to the medal race and the points earned in the medal race are doubled to determine the final ranking. The first three win the Olympic medals.
